2023–2024 NHLCC Scholar: Ashley Diaz

Ashley Diaz
MD Student
University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine

Ashley Diaz is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, currently applying into Internal Medicine with the hopes of becoming a Cardiologist. Born to a Colombian mother and Cuban father, Ashley was raised in Miami, Florida.

She attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia on a full merit scholarship as a Woodruff Scholar where she double majored in Chemistry and Neuroscience. Ashley received accolades such as Phi Beta Kappa for academic success and the Barry Goldwater National Award for organic chemistry research during her time at Emory.

Her interest in science and research took her to a summer research internship at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where she worked on organic synthesis of premarket therapeutics before entering medical school at the University of Chicago.

At Pritzker, she has been serving Hispanic communities through volunteering at the Community Health Free Clinic of Chicago and through the Heart and Vascular Institute Scholars program, where she mentors Latino youth interested in medicine and Cardiology. She has also served as the Admissions Chair for the Latino Medical Student Association, increasing Hispanic applicants for medical school nationally in the hopes of increasing the pipeline to medicine.

She is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) and has received numerous awards for her research throughout medical school, including the AOA Carolyn Kuckein Fellowship and the NIH Heart, Blood, and Lung Grant.

Outside of medicine, Ashley enjoys boxing/MMA fighting, playing the violin, and hanging out with her dog, Goose.